Learning About the Seasons with Chinese Medicine – Spring

When spring arrives, it is a welcome reprieve from the darkness, when the days become longer and new growth pushes up and out. This is the first sign of Yang energies emerging from dormancy and rising. Winter with the cold and dark is the most Yin time of year. Summer with the heat and light is the most Yang. Spring is the time when the Yin of winter is moving around the wheel and becoming Yang. It is a time of transition. If you are well-rested from winter you should be ready to rise to the occasion and begin to plan new ideas and prepare to put them into action. Spring fatigue is not unusual, and is a result of not nourishing Yin in the winter to give you a base of strength for this energy to emerge from.

The color associated with spring is green, the direction is east and the climate is wind. The organs are the Liver and Gallbladder, the tissue is the tendons, the emotion is anger and irritability, and the virtue is the antidote to anger: kindness. The flavor is sour, and you will find that many herbs that treat the Liver and are useful for issues that arise in the spring, do indeed taste sour.